The Black Crystal Project
by Ardil the Traveller
Summary: As Shadow falls through the sky, his fate balancing on a knife-edge, deep in an almost-forgotten base something is typing... and the results will sweep Sonic, Shadow, Tails, and Knuckles into a battle for life and freedom against a deadly opponent.
1. Chapter 1

Sonic, Shadow, Tails, Knuckles (and Robotnik, and anyone else from the Sonic games I might happen to mention) are all very much their own people, but for the purposes of this world, they're all copyright SEGA. As for Black Crystal, well... in much the same way, I suppose Black Crystal is copyright me and my brother.  
  
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Exactly where this story started, I'm not certain. Perhaps it began fifty years ago, on a space station called the ARK. Or perhaps it began even further back than that, when a meteorite crashed into the planet, thousands of years ago. Perhaps it began when the long-buried meteorite was discovered. Or perhaps it began here...  
  
He was falling through the atmosphere, his power growing weaker. Maybe it didn't really matter. He'd fulfilled his promise, and now... now that it was done... he was going to die. He still had a little power left, though; it was keeping him in his Super form, keeping him from burning up in the atmosphere... for now. But he knew that when he hit ground, even if he hadn't run out of power too long before, he would die. He'd be out of energy by then, he knew. There was no way he could make it down safely. But perhaps... perhaps it didn't really matter. He had done what he'd promised.  
  
'Or have you?' he asked himself. 'As long as there is evil in the world, it will threaten them. I must still keep my promise…' There was only one possible way out that he could think of, and he wasn't certain if he had enough energy left to pull it off. Further down he fell, already feeling his energy growing dangerously low. He wasn't far down enough... not far enough... no! Too late! It was going to be too late, he didn't have the energy... He hung onto his Super form, calling on reserves he didn't know he had, for... just... long... enough – no longer able to maintain his Super form, he immediately Chaos Controlled to a point a short way below the one he had been in. The Chaos Control negated his downwards velocity, but now he had hardly any energy left... as he neared the ground below, he used up the last of his reserves in one short blast from his boot jets, hoping that that would be enough... That hope was his last conscious thought.  
  
* * *  
  
A computer screen glowed faintly in the darkness, green lettering on its blackness providing the only illumination in the dark room. It had been on for quite some time, unused, but now slender fingers tapped on the keyboard, typing...  
  
Information request: Black Crystal project  
  
Authorisation code required  
  
Authorisation code 903-21A-NMS-D  
  
Authorisation code accepted. Details of Black Crystal project follow:  
  
The Black Crystal project was originally begun shortly before the completion of the robot Hyper Metal Sonic. After the failure of this creation, work on the project was discontinued. The Black Crystal project was revived when Chaos was discovered, and the project approached completion. But when the Chaos project failed, the Black Crystal project was once more abandoned. UPDATE PROJECT STATUS? Y/N   
  
There was a moment of absolute stillness – then a finger flicked out with lightning speed.  
  
Y  
  
Enter additional information  
  
For a long time I have been left alone in the dark. But now... The Black Crystal Project Is Complete.  
  
The fingers flicked to the 'enter' button, saving the update to the file.  
  
Attention flag request: Black Crystal project  
  
Select level of priority: L [Low] M [Medium] H [High]  
  
H  
  
Black Crystal project flagged High priority  
  
The unseen figure deactivated the computer, then left the room into an equally dark corridor. It would not take long for Robotnik to notice the high priority flagging of the Black Crystal project... 


	2. Chapter 2

Seabirds wheeled and called above the cliffs as the first ray of sunlight broke through the storm clouds. None of them looked down, and even if they had, what would they have seen? Nothing much, certainly, but for one small thing that had not been there before, though all that they would have seen of it was a black smudge against the ground... but they did not look, and so did not see.  
  
Below them, Shadow awoke. The birds' calls echoed in his head, for a while seeming to half-echo disjointed fragments of speech. Slowly, he forced himself to his feet and looked around, blinking and swaying as the landscape seemed to spin and tilt sideways beneath him. He felt weak, and slowly dropped back to his knees. You couldn't use up that much energy without paying for it, and he'd used everything, even some he didn't know he had. Above him, the seabirds flew idly, uncaring, indifferent as to his fate.  
  
* * *  
  
In Tails' workshop in the Mystic Ruins, Sonic sat in a chair, thinking.  
  
"Hey, Sonic, what's up?" Tails asked him. Sonic almost jumped, unaware that his thoughts had been so obviously reflected on his face.  
  
"Huh? Oh – nothing, Tails." He forced himself to look normal, aware that Tails was watching him, concern reflected on the young fox's face. "Really, Tails, I'm all right." Tails looked unconvinced, but sighed and shrugged, his attitude seeming to say 'If you say so, Sonic.' He knew that there was something wrong, guessed that it was probably something to do with Shadow. But he had things on his own mind... not least a burning question about Project Shadow.  
  
'Professor Gerald Robotnik said that after Maria's death, he went insane. All he could think about was revenge. He completed his project – to create the ultimate life form – and intended it to get his revenge for him. Presumably, that was Shadow – except that, from what Amy tells me, Shadow remembered that his promise to Maria wasn't to get revenge, but to look after the planet. If Shadow's memories were pre-programmed, he might have thought that he remembered Maria, but he wouldn't have thought that she wanted him to take care of the world, because Professor Robotnik wanted him to get revenge. That means that Shadow must have remembered the real Maria... but then, how could Professor Robotnik have completed his project after her death? I already know about the prototype Ultimate Life Form, and that was the prototype, so it couldn't be that... so there must be another result of the project. Another Shadow? If Shadow was designed to be the ultimate life form, then this other should look more or less like him, and have the... same... abilities...' Tails' head jerked up and his mouth fell open as he carried the train of thought to its logical conclusion. '...so alike... it couldn't be... could it?' But the more he thought about it, the more possible it seemed that, perhaps unknowingly, perhaps not, Shadow really had meant exactly what he said when he and Sonic were fighting the BioLizard in outer space – that Sonic was the ultimate life form. And they had the exact same abilities, though they used them in slightly different ways – Shadow channelled energy through his boot jets to go at the highest speeds, Sonic channelled it to allow him to run really fast, but the end result was the same. And Chaos Control, and the ability to charge up using the power of the Emeralds – and they even looked alike. It couldn't be possible, surely, but the more he thought about it the more likely it seemed. Sonic... Sonic who had no memory of his family... Sonic who was like no other, except for Shadow... Sonic was the end result of Professor Robotnik's project.  
  
"What is it, Tails?" asked Sonic, cutting into his thoughts.  
  
"What? Oh – it's nothing, Sonic, really. I was just... thinking about something, that's all." He wasn't ready to tell Sonic, not yet. And there was another thought, now, derailing the original line of thinking.  
  
"Sonic?"  
  
"What is it now, Tails?"  
  
"Sonic, remember that time when you jumped off of the Egg Carrier?"  
  
"Yes, of course – look, what has that got to with anything, anyway?"  
  
"Well, you landed okay, didn't you? And when Eggman shot down the Tornado, we both landed okay, right?"  
  
"Well... yeah..." said Sonic, unsure of where this was leading to and vividly remembering landing in the beach at Emerald Coast. He'd landed all right, upside down with his head buried in the sand. Tails carried on.  
  
"And you remember when you finally defeated Chaos?"  
  
"Tails, what exactly are you trying to say?"  
  
Tails seemed to take his answer for a yes and carried on, as much thinking out loud as talking to his friend.  
  
"And you know you can use the Chaos Control, right?"  
  
"Tails?" But Tails didn't really seem to be listening to him.  
  
"And the battle with the BioLizard took place in the upper atmosphere, didn't it, towards the end?"  
  
"So?"  
  
"So in your Super form, you won't burn up in the atmosphere. You can Chaos Control to get yourself to a different place, and you survive long falls easily, right?"  
  
"That's what I just said, isn't it?"  
  
"So Sonic, since the last time we saw Shadow he was still Super, and he can do all the same things as you can..."  
  
"Shadow might still be alive?! Then we have to go find him!" Sonic jumped up from his chair. "Is the Cyclone ready?"  
  
"Yeah, Sonic, but the Tornado 2 is faster and has an unlimited power supply!"  
  
"Then what are we waiting for? Let's go!"  
  
Sonic dashed down into Tails' secret runway, Tails following closely behind. As Sonic jumped onto the back of the plane, Tails locked the Chaos Emerald securely into place in the nosecone and jumped up into the pilot's seat.  
  
"Ready Sonic? Here we go!" The plane shot down the runway, the doors opening just in time as it flew out, transforming immediately and flying off to search for Shadow. 


	3. Chapter 3

"I know roughly where he fell, Sonic, but it's an awfully large area that he could be anywhere in. It might take us days to find him, and in a few days' time, if he's alive then he'll already be gone," Tails said, the wind blowing his words back to Sonic. "Reaching the edge of the search zone... now, Sonic. Keep an eye out for him. I'm bringing us down low." The Tornado 2 swooped down, just above the tops of the trees that flew past beneath them. "Uh... Sonic? There's something I forgot to tell you..."  
  
"What is it now, Tails?!" Sonic shouted above the wind whipping his words away, still scanning the ground for any signs of Shadow.  
  
"Well... over half of the possible landing area is over the ocean."  
  
Sonic said nothing. The plane flew on in a spiral search pattern with a squashed edge running along the cliffs at the shoreline.  
  
"Tails! There! Take us in!" Sonic shouted, pointing.  
  
"What? Where?!" Tails quickly glanced back at Sonic to see what he was pointing to, then swung the plane around in a banking turn, increasing its height.  
  
"Tails, what are you doing?!"  
  
Tails didn't respond, instead transforming the plane back into a biplane. Then he answered. "There's no landing gear in that mode! The wings come too low!" As the Tornado 2 swept around again on an approach run for a landing, Sonic jumped off the tail and headed for the dark shape on the ground. The plane taxied to a halt, and Tails joined him.  
  
"Shadow, are you all right?" Tails asked. Shadow was standing, if a little unsteadily, and he looked over at Tails and Sonic.  
  
"I'm fine. I just... used up... a bit too much... energy." He swayed slightly and closed his eyes for a few moments.  
  
"I can fly you back to my workshop," Tails offered. "From there you can get a train to Station Square or wherever else you want to go." Shadow nodded and almost fell over, but Sonic caught him just in time. Tails, seeing them side-by-side, was struck by the resemblance between them. They would look even more alike if they charged up using the power of the Chaos Emeralds, he knew. Similar... and yet somehow very different, or should it be different, and yet somehow very similar, he wondered.  
  
Shadow walked slowly over to the plane and climbed onto the back, sitting down where Sonic normally stood. Sonic jumped on in front of him and called back to Tails, who was still lost in his own thoughts.  
  
"Come on, Tails!" He sighed at the look on the little fox's face, as if he were gazing at something that only he could see. Tails, who had been staring into the middle distance, thinking, jumped and ran back to the Tornado 2, scrambling into the pilot's seat, trying but not quite managing to look as if he wasn't thinking about anything in particular.  
  
He flew the whole way back in a peculiarly abstracted way – but was suddenly jerked out of it by the sight of his workshop. A large hole had been blasted right through the doors of the upper hangar, and the plane inside – the Cyclone – was wrecked. Shadow watched Tails look down at his second runway. The fox was too shocked to say anything, as was Sonic. That door had a hole through it, too, and was too bent to open properly without extensive repairs. They would have to land on the higher runway. Tails pressed the button that sent a signal to extend the runway, but nothing happened. An error message flashed across a little screen above the button, repeating itself over and over: MECHANISM FAILURE MECHANISM FAILURE MECHANISM FAILURE. Tails hit the cancel button. They would have to land elsewhere. 


	4. Chapter 4

They landed on a flat area atop one of the cliffs, but that left the problem of how they were going to get down. If it were just Tails and Sonic, it'd be easy, but they had to worry about the exhausted Shadow, too. Still sitting on the back of the plane, he looked almost dead, just slumped against the tailfin.  
  
'Maria… I will keep my promise…' He opened his eyes a fraction, the light seeming to burn through his head. He had thought that the pain would decrease as his energy returned, but right now he felt even weaker than he had when he had regained consciousness. Shadow forced himself to look at Sonic and Tails, who were looking over the edge of the cliff and trying to work out the best way down.  
  
Shadow might not have known it, but his feeling of being even more drained than before was due to the simple fact that he was more or less safe. Now he could relax. He could afford to feel. Oh, it was nothing conscious that decided that, it was something inside, deep instinct, and Shadow could only feel the results.  
  
He slipped off the plane, actually noticing the slight jar of his feet touching the ground in his weakened state. Slowly, Shadow walked to the edge and looked down. It was a more or less sheer drop down to the ground, with slight ledges here and there. He heard Tails mention his name and knew that he was wondering how to get him down. Well, Tails wasn't going to have to worry. He looked for the closest ledge to the top. It was very narrow; there would be no margin for error, were he to try and land on that. Blinking a couple of times – at least his eyes were getting used to the light – he took careful stock of the distance and stepped off the edge of the cliff. Once again he felt the shock of landing run up his legs, and almost overbalanced and fell off the edge. Hastily grabbing the cliff for support, Shadow waited for a couple of seconds before letting go of it again and looking down for the next ledge.  
  
A few ledges further on, Sonic fell past him, poised for his next landing, superb power and control evident even in free-fall. He was taking much longer falls than Shadow dared, hardly surprising, after all. Shadow knew what it was to have that same energy and control, but right now he just felt weak. His eye caught Sonic's for an instant, and a flash of understanding passed between them in the instant before Sonic dropped from view. Shortly after, Tails came down too. He had been falling, but as he approached the ledge Shadow stood on, he began to spin his tails and reduce his speed to land gently right next to him.  
  
"Grab my hand, Shadow, and we'll fly down!"  
  
Shadow felt odd, almost a hindrance to the party, but a good look at Tails and the rapidly descending Sonic, now far below, told him that Tails would probably have flown one of them down anyway, even had they both been fine. It was quicker. He held out his hands to Tails, who immediately grabbed them and stepped off the ledge, pulling Shadow with him. They fell without stopping, freely, the cliff flashing by and the ground approaching rapidly. Close to a large ledge level with Tails' workshop, Shadow felt the jerk of Tails beginning to fly, and they slowed down smoothly until they were almost stationary at the exact same moment they touched ground. Shadow hardly felt the landing at all, it was so smooth. Tails released his hands and made his own landing on the ledge as Sonic dropped next to them. Now all Shadow had to do was jump from here to the workshop – that was the quickest way – or risk another long drop to the ground, then climb back up the steps to the workshop. Sonic walked to the edge of the ledge, then jumped across to the workshop without so much as a run-up. Shadow mustered his strength, took a couple of steps back, then ran and jumped. He only just made it to the hilltop on which the workshop stood. Tails flew across after him, and all three walked around to the hangar, to see the extent of the damage.  
  
The hangar itself was not damaged, apart from the large doors that opened onto the runway, but the plane had been thoroughly wrecked. Tails swept a few small pieces out of the way, walked over to his plane, and simply stared at it. A few seconds passed, and Sonic started forwards just as Tails turned around.  
  
"Look at this…" Tails said, in a voice just above a whisper. "This part of the engine -" he indicated a hole in the side to Sonic, who was looking over his shoulder "-has been completely vaporised! What could have done something like that?! It's a good thing we went to look for Shadow when we did, or we might have lost both planes!"  
  
Shadow picked up a piece of twisted, half-melted wreckage from the floor. It was still warm from whatever had hit it. "Whatever did this, it was here recently… and it might still be around somewhere."  
  
"You mean –" began Sonic, but Tails cut him off.  
  
"The Tornado 2! And it's still got the Chaos Emerald in it! We have to get back up there!" Tails dashed out of the door and began flying up the cliff. There was no point in Sonic or Shadow trying to follow him. He would be faster alone, without having to lift them up. 


	5. Chapter 5

Shadow and Sonic watched Tails as he began to fly up the cliff, stopping every now and then on one ledge or another to rest his tails for a moment. Sonic turned away and jumped up to the workshop balcony, from which he could get into the workshop proper. Shadow leant against the workshop wall and watched Tails, who was still flying up the cliff face. As Tails reached the top and disappeared from view, Sonic jumped down from the balcony, landing easily next to Shadow.  
  
"Something's been in there and destroyed Tails' computers – come and look!"  
  
Shadow jumped up, grabbing the edge of the balcony and pulling himself up. He walked to the door, which Sonic had left open, and stepped in. Inside, it actually looked reasonably tidy, except for the two computers that handled most of Tails' tougher calculations and his simulations, as well as his games. There was no wreckage, but each computer had a perfectly round hole about the size of Shadow's palm straight through it, in a place that looked precisely calculated to maximise the amount of damage. Sonic walked up behind Shadow and looked over his shoulder at the damage.  
  
"Shadow, when you were working with Eggman… did you ever see anything that could do this?"  
  
Shadow thought about it for a few seconds. He hadn't really been paying too much attention to most of the robots he'd seen; they didn't figure in his plans and weren't of any importance. "No… nothing like this. He had some lasers, but they weren't this powerful. Or this precise. The robots I saw probably couldn't do something like this without taking out part of the wall, as well. And there would have been some wreckage…" Shadow turned away and began looking around the rest of the workshop. He opened the drawer labelled 'schematics'. Sonic walked to the door and looked up the cliff as Shadow stared into an empty drawer. There was a scratch mark along the bottom, as if something had tried to slip something sharp under whatever had been in there, and caught it in the wood. A radio stood on a table; while it looked perfectly whole from in front, there was a hole in the back the same shape as the ones through the computers. It stopped just a millimetre short of going entirely through the casing. Shadow picked up the radio and turned it over and over in his hands. Amazingly precisely done. None of the robots he'd seen looked capable of that kind of precision. It was quite possible that he hadn't seen everything, of course… and he hadn't been paying much attention to what he did see... but still, the standard of Robotnik's robots was generally lower than this. He shook his head and put the radio back down, then carried on looking about. The television, too, had been destroyed in a similar manner, again with the same millimetre-exact precision. Everything that could be used to communicate with the outside world or store information was ruined.  
  
Shadow walked back out of the door and looked up the cliff. Tails had reached the top and was waving down at Sonic. From his manner, Shadow decided that the plane must still be okay. Suddenly, Sonic began gesturing frantically at Tails, shouting "Duck!", even though Tails probably couldn't hear him. Shadow looked up in time to see a small, fast-moving shape in the sky, heading directly for Tails. It was sheer luck that made Tails look in the right direction first – then take a step in surprise and fall off the cliff. Whatever it was swooped right through the air where he had been standing, then turned and began accelerating down the cliff towards the figure of Tails, who was using his tails to propel him ever faster downwards. Just in time, he levelled out, followed by his pursuer, which had been gaining on him and was now only about a metre away.  
  
As soon as Tails was close enough, Sonic jumped and attacked the thing that was chasing him. Instantly it snapped to one side, as fast as Sonic could move, leaving him shooting through empty air. He curved his path and came back again, ready for it to dodge this time. It stopped suddenly, hovering just centimetres above the ground, and Sonic overshot in surprise. It was similar in shape to the robot Hyper Metal Sonic, but not the same. The three spikes were longer and really were spikes rather than shaped pieces on either side of the head, the bottom two curving up to almost touch the down-curved top spike. There were no jets on the back, which was almost smooth, with a suggestion of spikes similar to Sonic's but smaller, and it had no obvious means of propulsion in the air. It didn't seem to be made of any kind of metal, but instead out of some kind of crystal, which shifted and changed colour in the light, dark green and black, and appeared to be made all of a piece instead of with Metal's more obviously hinged joints. Features such as eyes seemed more carved on and were shaped more like Shadow's than Sonic's, the bit that would have been white the same shifting black/dark green as the rest of it. Only the iris and pupil were a different colour, the pupil black, the iris a pale icy blue that seemed to glow without actually radiating light. For a couple of seconds everyone, including it, simply stood there motionless, then it spoke. 


	6. Chapter 6

A long overdue note to my reviewers: Thank you very much for your comments! I hope you keep on enjoying it! (The songs in the seventh chapter are mine, what do you think?)  
  
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-Sonic. Shadow. Tails. Give me the Emerald.- The voice was strange, somehow flat, and it seemed as if it were not a sound at all. There was none of the resonance that characterised any normal voice, nor emotion. Tails rubbed at his ears. He didn't seem to hear it speak… he just knew that it had spoken.  
  
"Why should I give you the Emerald? And just what are you, anyway?!" Sonic said.  
  
-I am Black Crystal. Now give me the Emerald.-  
  
"No way!"  
  
-Then I shall take it!- Immediately, it snapped into action, moving as fast as Sonic himself. Sonic stood his ground until the last possible moment, then leaped up and out of the way. Instantly, Black Crystal spun sideways, flashing past millimetres away from Shadow, curving up smoothly to intercept Sonic. As his rise slowed, he knew that it was gaining, and threw himself sideways in midair. Black Crystal missed him by a millimetre and curved around to attack again. As Sonic fell, it shot towards him – then suddenly its course changed, too late for anyone to do anything about it, and it shot past Shadow, grabbing his leg and taking him with it.  
  
Black Crystal hovered in the air, just out of Sonic's jumping range, holding Shadow upside-down by the leg over the edge of the cliff. Were it to let go, Shadow would fall into the sea.  
  
-The Emerald. Or I let go.-  
  
For an instant, Sonic's eyes met Shadow's, and he knew what he had to do.  
  
"No way, Crystal!"  
  
Black Crystal released Shadow, who fell from view. It attacked once more, going now for Sonic, now for Tails, none of them getting anything more than a few glancing hits. Then it managed to hit Sonic, throwing him to the floor, dazed. As it was coming in on the final attack run, something hit it from behind. Black Crystal spun out over the ocean, out of control, and Shadow landed next to Sonic, offering a hand to help him up. Sonic pulled himself upright and looked at Shadow.  
  
"Nice work, Shadow! I thought you'd have enough energy by now to use your jets," he said. It was exactly what Shadow had done; as soon as he was out of sight, he had used his jets to slow, then stop his fall, and finally rise above the cliff again.  
  
'Only just,' Shadow thought. He was still feeling weak, and he concentrated on staying upright as a momentary spell of dizziness swept over him. Something of it must have shown in his face, because Sonic asked,  
  
"Hey, are you okay?"  
  
Shadow closed his eyes for a few moments. "I'll be fine," he said.  
  
"Wow… I get the feeling we haven't seen the last of that thing, though. Do you think it was what wrecked my workshop?" Tails asked.  
  
"Probably. And it was searching for the Chaos Emeralds, so we have to find them first!" Sonic answered him.  
  
"Then let's go, right? Shadow?"  
  
Shadow nodded. He was coming with them. 


	7. Chapter 7

--Angel Island--  
  
Knuckles leaned back against one of the old broken columns around the shrine of the Master Emerald, his deep blue eyes, which sometimes seemed almost purple in the right light, closed. He could feel the sun on his face, as well as a gentle breeze, and see the cream/pink light filtering through his closed eyelids. Angel Island was peaceful again, floating high in the air once more. He listened to the sound of a few birds singing softly, could feel the energy of the nearby Master Emerald. If he opened his eyes, he would see its green radiance from the top of the shrine. A new sound came to his ears, a soft singing, not the singing of the Chao who lived nearby, but another voice.  
  
"Long days have passed  
And will pass again  
Summer of sunshine  
Turning to rain  
  
Rain passing to snowfall  
From the wintry skies  
Winter gives way to Spring  
And new lives arise"  
  
Tikal was the singer, Knuckles recognised her voice, if voice it truly was - he couldn't say. She had been dead for hundreds of years, only her spirit now remaining, so whether she had any real voice, or if it was merely his mind that 'heard' the words, he didn't know. But it sounded like any voice to him, and that was enough. She began a second song, sadder than the first.  
  
"The sun, the sun shines down  
'Cross the cities, 'cross the towns  
Broken houses, broken dreams  
Where lie the people I have seen?  
  
The sun knows no cares  
The stars know no fears  
There still is much beauty  
Remaining here  
  
The past is lost, and long since gone  
But memories can carry on  
Things of shadows, waking dreams  
Echoes of what used to be..."  
  
For the first time in a while, Knuckles could just relax. The Master Emerald was back where it belonged, and everything was peaceful. A part of his mind idly wondered where Rouge was. She was around the island somewhere, having decided to go off and explore it almost as soon as they had got there. For a while, he simply enjoyed being there, at peace. Even with his eyes closed, he could practically see the area where he lay, and his whole being was peaceful...  
  
Suddenly, he noticed a change. Tikal's song had stopped, not at an end, but cut off in the middle of a line. Even as he wondered what was wrong and opened his eyes, blinking against the sunlight which he was staring directly into, he heard her voice.  
  
"I feel something coming," she said. He turned his head to the left. Sure enough, there she was, hovering in the air at about head height, merely a glowing orb of light and energy at the moment, not bothering to show any other form. Knuckles sat up, alert at once, his peace disturbed.  
  
"What is it?"  
  
"I... I don't know exactly. It is some kind of energy, and it is coming closer fast."  
"The Chaos Emerald in that plane of Tails'?" Knuckles guessed. Tikal made a small movement that seemed the equivalent of a shake of the head.  
  
"No, this is no Emerald. The power is weaker than that. I do not know what it is, but it travels fast from below, and it is headed here!" Knuckles stood and walked to the edge of the island, looking out and down in the direction Tikal indicated. She was describing tight, nervous circles in the air close to his head, and he got the feeling that she was watching something intently.  
  
"It comes - you should be able to see it now."  
  
He looked harder, at first seeing nothing, then spotting a black speck outlined against the sea far below. It was coming closer fast, but was far too small to be that plane - the Tornado 2, Tails called it. Knuckles watched it approach, a feeling of apprehension growing inside him. Soon it would be close enough for him to make out what it was. 


	8. Chapter 8

Sorry about the long delay, I got a bad case of writer's block. Here, then, is the next instalment in this story – hope you all like it! Sorry it's a little short…  
  
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The sunlight reflected off the approaching thing, whatever it was. It was closer than Knuckles had thought, small, about the same size as him, but he couldn't make out the details. It was coming closer very fast. Suddenly, it was right up next to them, coming to a stop on the very edge of the island and standing there. Its white-blue eyes, seeming to glow without actually emitting light, looked up at the radiance of the Master Emerald, then at Knuckles. Black Crystal, for that was what it was, suddenly sped in a straight line towards the Master Emerald. Immediately, Knuckles dashed after it, reaching the top of the shrine only a couple of seconds after Black Crystal. It was hovering with no visible method of staying airborne, right next to the slowly rotating Master Emerald. The very tips of pointed fingers lightly rested on the surface of the powerful gem that turned beneath them. Its head turned to look at Knuckles.  
  
"Get away from that Emerald!" Knuckles said, ready to fight if he had to. Cold blue-white eyes regarded him, nothing revealed in their icy depths. Suddenly the island shook, and Knuckles nearly lost his balance, almost fell. With a shock, he realised that whatever this thing was, it was draining power from the Master Emerald! But it only seemed to draw on a little of the power, for Angel Island stabilised once more and the shaking stopped. Before Knuckles could act, Black Crystal's left hand snapped up, fingers and thumb curled tightly and drawn away from the palm, which was glowing with a faintly blue-white light. Its right hand still rested on the Master Emerald. Knuckles realised the danger and jumped to one side as a blue-white beam of energy fired from the palm of Black Crystal's hand, burning a hole in the ground where he had been standing.  
  
-Give me the Chaos Emerald.-  
  
Knuckles wasn't about to give anything up to this… whatever-it-was. He wondered how it knew that he had a Chaos Emerald, supposed that it could sense the energy.  
  
-Give me the Emerald, and I shall leave.-  
  
Tikal, still hovering behind Knuckles, suddenly darted to one side. As Black Crystal's head turned to follow the motion, Knuckles attacked it, sending it tumbling away from the Emerald. It righted itself almost as soon as it hit the ground, white-blue eyes still showing nothing. Snapping a hand up, it fired again, directly at Knuckles, who was now standing in front of the Master Emerald. The beam hit this time, throwing him back against the slowly turning gem. It must have been less powerful than the first, but it was still easily enough to knock him out. The Chaos Emerald fell to the ground, bouncing twice atop the hard stone of the altar before coming to rest. Tikal watched helplessly as Black Crystal picked up the Chaos Emerald and left the island the same way it had arrived. She floated over to where Knuckles lay, to reassure herself that he would be all right, before speeding away to find the former guardian of the Master Emerald, Chaos. And after that, the treasure hunter who had vanished into the depths of the island to explore – Rouge. 


	9. Chapter 9

Sparky the Seventh Chaos, thank you very much for your review! Since you like it so, this chapter's for you! Hope this piece of art is as good as the others!  
  
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The plane flew on over the ever-changing landscape, signals from Tails' Emerald detector guiding it to its destination. Shadow had regained some of his strength, though he was by no means back to normal. He and Sonic stood together in the small space available on the back of the plane, wind whistling past their ears. In the cockpit, Tails made minor adjustments to the controls, taking the plane up slightly to give them a more favourable wind. Suddenly his ears twitched, and he bent a little closer to the controls. The wind carried his mutter back to the other two where they stood in front of the tailfin.  
  
"What is that...?"  
  
Sonic shouted ahead, the wind whipping his words away as if determined that they should not reach Tails.  
  
"What is it, Tails?"  
  
"Another energy signature, a Chaos Emerald - and something else as well, if this thing's right. Whatever it is, it's in the air and coming our way - fast!"  
  
Sonic and Shadow exchanged glances. "It's that Black Crystal thing again, isn't it?! He's as persistent as Eggman! But how did he get a Chaos Emerald so fast? He can't have got far from the Mystic Ruins before we did!"  
  
The thought occurred to Sonic and Tails at almost the same time, Sonic fractionally faster.  
  
"Knuckles!"  
  
"Angel Island!"  
  
Shadow's expression became somewhat worried. He had seen little of the Master Emerald's guardian, but what he had seen told him that Knuckles was a determined character who would not be beaten easily. If Black Crystal had bested him so quickly, they were really going to have a fight on their hands. The plane bucked slightly as a crosswind caught it, and Shadow fell to one side, almost dropping from the plane before the better-balanced Sonic grabbed his shoulder and held him upright.  
  
"Thanks, Sonic..." It still felt a little strange, working with instead of against the hedgehog so similar to him who had only a few days ago been his adversary. But it felt right, also, and conflicting emotions no longer warred within him as they had at times before. Sonic kept a firm grip on his shoulder, holding him steady as Tails flew the plane onwards, speeding to reach the Emerald before Black Crystal could. It felt good to have allies like them.  
  
"He's fast - he's closing in on us! I'm not sure whether he'll reach us before we reach the Emerald!" Tails' voice cut into Shadow's thoughts again. Sonic's hand tightened in a reflex action, Sonic not even really noticing as he called back,  
  
"Put on all the speed we have! We've gotta get there first!"  
  
"I'm trying, Sonic, but I don't think we can go any faster without damaging the engine!"  
  
Sonic leaned forwards as if willing the plane to go faster. Shadow twisted around to see a dark speck in the air behind them.  
  
'If that's him, we have to go faster!' he thought. 'But how...?' As the Tornado 2 raced on at the limit of its capability and the speck that was Black Crystal grew slowly larger behind them, everyone's mind was fixed on how they could get to their destination still faster... 


	10. Chapter 10

Chapter 10 finally up! Thank you all who reviewed or will review my work!  
  
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Shadow stared back at the slowly-gaining Black Crystal, desperately trying to think of a way to increase the speed of the Tornado 2. Then he had it, but he knew he couldn't pull it off - he was still far too weak.  
  
"Sonic, this plane flies using a Chaos Emerald as its power supply, doesn't it?" Sonic nodded, and Shadow continued. "Use the Chaos Control!" He was too weak to do it himself still; it took a lot of energy to Chaos Control, energy he didn't have. Sonic didn't reply, except with a single shout.  
  
"Chaos Control!"  
  
An instant later, the plane was in the air over their destination, Black Crystal now far behind.  
  
"Good thinking, Shadow!" Sonic said, at about the same time as Tails asked  
  
"What was that?!"  
  
Sonic leaned sideways to see past Shadow and reply.  
  
"I used Chaos Control! We're ahead of him now!"  
  
Tails nodded and turned his attention back to piloting. Just for a fraction of a second, all energy had been diverted from his plane's systems, and now he wasn't sure they were responding properly. It handled okay for a minute or two, then suddenly began to respond as though an extra weight had been added to it. He estimated the phantom weight to be a little greater than Sonic's - not enough to really alter the plane's performance much; in fact, it was likely that no-one but him, who knew his plane intimately, would have noticed it. But it was worrying nonetheless - what would he do if it got worse?  
  
Tails brought the plane down to the area his scanners registered the Emerald to have appeared, transforming it back to biplane mode. As he did, the phantom weight seemed to disappear, the plane responding as normal to his commands. A relief, but also a worry; if it appeared and disappeared like that, who was to say it wouldn't reappear again, greater than before, at a time when he needed maximum performance?  
  
Tails glanced at the Emerald detector to check their location - and gasped. Two Emeralds, one of them moving, blurred with a small secondary power source! There was only one thing he knew of that gave a signal like that!  
  
"Uhh... Sonic?" Tails called as he swung his plane about to land.  
  
"What?"  
  
"I... I'm registering a second Emerald - and a smaller energy focus with it! I think... I think you just taught Crystal a new trick!" It explained the phantom weight; there really had been an extra weight, probably hanging onto the bottom of the aeroplane where he couldn't detect it while it got its bearings. There was a blank spot in the Emerald radar near the plane, so that the Emerald that served as a power supply wouldn't interfere with the readings - and Black Crystal had hidden in that!  
  
"I just showed that thing how to Chaos Control?!" Sonic's voice was incredulous, and Tails didn't blame him.  
  
"I think so! Sonic, take this and get going! It's a race between you and him now!" Tails threw something back to him, Sonic's hand flashing out and grabbing it faster than most people would think possible. It was a small radio receiver, about the size of a little mobile phone. Sonic knew that Tails would have a duplicate in the cockpit so that they could keep in contact.  
  
"Good luck!" Tails yelled as Sonic dropped from the plane, landing already running, and shot off. Tails brought the plane down behind him, and stared at the radar screen, ready to relay instructions to Sonic. 


	11. Chapter 11

Hey Alman, since when was Eggman any good at thinking up names? (No offence taken. Black Crystal has actually been around longer than Shadow has; he was my brother's idea years ago! A few months after SA maybe...? So when I first heard rumours of Shadow, I could barely believe my eyes! [I was on the Web] Anyway, I've edited his story a lot since then, both for FanFiction.Net and to include Shadow, but the basic idea is still the same, though he couldn't originally Chaos Control! It took SA2 to bring that in!)  
Glad you're all enjoying! Hope you continue to do so!  
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Sonic dashed along, the ground blurring past beneath his feet. Tails' voice crackled over the little radio in his hand.  
  
"Okay Sonic, now turn left! You're just about level with him!"  
  
Sonic skidded on the turn, then forced himself to run even faster.  
  
"It's a straight run ahead now, Sonic! You can do it!" Tails' voice shouted encouragement, and Sonic threw everything he had into that one, last, flat-out run. He couldn't afford trying to look for Crystal, that would slow him down; he couldn't take his eyes from his goal for even a fraction of a second.  
  
"He's behind you, but he's gaining slowly!" Alarm in Tails' voice. Crystal was a robot, with machine-like precision; that meant he could probably travel faster, on average, than Sonic. But Sonic refused to let him. Every tiny fraction of strength he had he threw into running. He wasn't sure he could blink at that speed. The air was like a wall, a very hard, solid wall, and one he was running into at full tilt. The wind forced tears from even his eyes, blurring that point ahead where he knew the Emerald waited. Tails shouted something over the radio, but the wind whipped it away, left the sound uselessly far behind Sonic. Who was still - just - accelerating.  
  
And behind him, slowly but surely, Black Crystal was falling behind.  
  
Expressionless white-blue eyes stared ahead at the blue figure, still running, that was actually beating their owner to its goal. Unlike Sonic, it would never grow tired, would never feel pain - those things were not programmed into the robotic control chip embedded in the back of Crystal's neck. The crystalline circuits in his 'brain', carved out by Robotnik's precisely focused micro-laser tools, worked in their odd medium several times faster than any conventional circuit, built using conventional materials, could. Without having to take on some of Sonic's mentality, Crystal could do all that Sonic could - from scratch. Thoughts flashed through his carefully structured, mechanical mind countless times faster than those of almost any living creature. Almost. But Sonic had the same reaction speeds, the same almost-impossible reflexes. Sonic was as good as Crystal. With not even the slightest trace of worry, the mechanical mind of Robotnik's greatest creation drew a conclusion at its lightning-fast speeds. Sonic was probably better than Crystal. For Sonic had intuition and the unpredictability granted solely through being free in his own life. Crystal had as much intuition as any, his brain a continuously changing neural network, but he was not free. He had his own mind - but on that mind there were constraints, imposed by the controlling chip. The first of those was simply, 'why?'.  
  
But Sonic was also fallible. A lot of his mind of necessity worked beneath the surface of his awareness. Crystal's mind was clear, sparked with the lightning of thought, down to its very bottom. Crystal could follow every path of thought, not just those that were not lost in his subconscious, because the control chip would allow him no subconscious mind. Everything happened in his blazing awareness. Sonic was more likely to make mistakes - but more likely therefore to second-guess his opponent by doing things that either Crystal could not think of, by the limitations the controlling chip imposed, or that Crystal would discount as moves that would not reach Sonic's awareness. Or, by not doing things that Crystal would see as the logical, rational, next step.  
  
Like this chase. Sonic's best option would have been to allow Crystal, who was already ahead, to get this Emerald while he turned away to get a head start on the next one. Instead, he began this race. And - for he had done something unanticipated, pushing himself beyond the limits of his endurance - he had actually won.  
  
Sonic came to a halt, almost too fast, almost falling, fighting for enough air to breathe freely, but the Emerald was clasped in his left hand. Still gasping for air, trying to catch his breath, heartbeat pounding crazily in his ears, Sonic looked back at his opponent, expecting him to be already attacking. But instead, Crystal stood several metres away, perfectly still, simply looking at Sonic. Something was happening beneath his awareness that he did not attempt to explain or analyse. He could not. Raising one hand in a strange gesture, neither salute nor farewell, he shot vertically upwards and disappeared from view.  
  
"Sonic?" Tails' voice crackled over the radio. "What happened?"  
  
"I... I don't know, Tails. I reached the Emerald first, but he didn't even try to fight me for it - and he could have done, while I was trying to get my breath back. I don't know what I saw... almost like... respect...?"  
  
Tails didn't understand. He couldn't. He hadn't seen what Sonic was talking about.  
  
"Never mind, Tails. Just bring the plane in. We're going to find those other Emeralds!" 


End file.
